Lewis Hamilton skips Ferrari fashion show to stay with critically ill Roscoe as Mugello test reshuffled
Lewis Hamilton has stepped away from Ferrari’s Milan fashion show this weekend to remain at his dog Roscoe’s bedside, a personal decision that also saw him withdraw from Friday’s Pirelli tyre test at Mugello.
The seven-time World Champion shared on social media that Roscoe, his 12-year-old English bulldog and ever-present paddock companion since 2013, is in a coma after pneumonia complications. Hamilton said there had been a “scary few hours,” revealing Roscoe’s heart briefly stopped during treatment. Doctors planned an attempt to wake him on Saturday.
“I was supposed to be in Milan for the Ferrari fashion show tomorrow and was really excited about it,” Hamilton wrote. “But as you know, I need to be with Roscoe right now… I’ll be watching the show on Ferrari Style and want to send my love and support to Rocco and the whole team.”
Ferrari had slated Hamilton to share Mugello mileage with Charles Leclerc as Pirelli continues development work for F1’s 2026 tyres. With Hamilton unavailable, reserve driver Guanyu Zhou stepped in for the afternoon running after Leclerc’s truncated morning session.
What was meant to be a valuable day for Pirelli’s hardest-compound assessments turned into a weather fight. Persistent rain kept Leclerc on intermediates and capped him at 25 laps, with a 1:34.914 the benchmark of a session more about feel than figures. Conditions eased enough later for Zhou to cycle through inters, full wets and finally a handful of dry runs, logging 75 laps in total and a 1:22.012 as track grip crept back.
“Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help,” said Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola. “Mugello is wonderful, but also very demanding on tyres, and it would have been useful to get in some consistent running to define the hardest compounds. We’ll analyse what little we gathered here and cross-reference it with data from previous sessions. On the positive side, we did get real-world wet-tyre running that will be useful for medium to long-term development.”
Ferrari rolled out its SF-25 mule once again, a heavily modified version of the current car set up to mimic the downforce window expected under the 2026 rules. The team has been experimenting with moveable front-wing elements in testing to simulate the effect of active aerodynamics that’ll headline next year’s concept.
Hamilton’s absence was felt more in sentiment than in lap count. The Briton’s bond with Roscoe is well known across the paddock; the bulldog has been a frequent guest in team garages and hospitality over the years, complete with paddock pass and a fanbase of his own. When Hamilton says, “I need to be with Roscoe,” nobody argues.
From a Ferrari standpoint, the disruption was manageable. Leclerc’s morning was always going to be weather-limited, and Zhou’s appearance kept Pirelli’s programme moving where possible. The softer-compound work will shift to two further days of testing after the Mexico City Grand Prix, when conditions—and hopefully the calendar—should be kinder.
For Hamilton, this weekend was supposed to blend the fashion and racing halves of his Ferrari life: a high-profile appearance in Milan, plus meaningful mileage in Tuscany. Instead, it’s a quieter, more human story. One of F1’s most visible stars pressing pause for the family member who’s padded through his career’s biggest moments.
The Ferrari show will go on without him. The testing programme will, too. But the sport’s attention is elsewhere for a moment, with a bulldog everyone’s met at least once in a motorhome doorway. Even in a season as relentless as 2025, some priorities aren’t up for debate.
